Princes, Princesses and Dragons
by Dizzy Flower
Summary: Ginny is receiving letters and gifts from a secret admirer...but her prince charming is the the last person she suspects. Complete!


Disclaimer: Nothing you see belongs to me. Ginny, Hogwarts etc belong to JK Rowling and Bloomsbury. Claire and Riva belong to themselves. 

A/N: Ginny only has one room mate because in most boarding schools (in Australia anyway) the older you get the less people you share with in your dorm. 'Sentir' is Latin for 'sense' and 'lapis' for stone, and 'reperire' and 'annotare' are also Latin for 'find' and 'write down'. 

Princes, Princesses and Dragons

_Hello Princess_

_You look happier this year then last. I bet it's probably because He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone. Your brown eyes sparkle now, and everyone can see how beautiful you are when you smile._

_-your Prince_

Ginny smiled and tucked the note into the pocket of her robes. Brushing her fingers over the velvety petals of the red roses, she lifted the bunch that came with the note to her nose and inhaled the heady scent. It was the third time this week that she had received such a note and every time Ginny thought of their mystery sender a pink blush rose on her pale cheeks.

Unbuttoning her robes, Ginny leisurely put on her nightie and turned down her bed before padding into the bathroom she shared with her dorm mate. Grabbing her toothbrush she began to brush her teeth. Ginny looked at her reflection in the mirror and idly wondered what it was that attracted her mystery prince. Her large brown eyes were sweet and trusting and her pale skin and red hair made an interesting contrast, but she was no beauty. Ginny was quite tall for a girl, and skinny. She wasn't curvy like Lavender or Hermione and besides being Ron's little sister wasn't known for doing anything remarkable. Whereas Harry, Hermione and Ron had saved the wizarding world from Lord Voldemort, Ginny had been placed in a safe house and made to wait out the final battle in isolation. 

Ginny smiled as she came to the obvious conclusion. Her prince liked her for being herself, for being plain old Virginia Weasley. Feeling all warm inside, Ginny slipped between the warm covers of her four-poster and fell asleep dreaming of princes and dragons. 

*       *       *

"Please take a piece of clean parchment out and copy the notes on the board," Professor Binns' monotonous voice said as the dour ghost floated idly across the classroom. There was a rush of noise as the class did as he requested. Looking through her bag for a piece of parchment Ginny glanced at a small slip of blue at the bottom of her bag. After a quick peek to check that no one was looking at her Ginny took out a delicate-looking blue letter. Her hands shaking slightly, Ginny began to read. 

_Dear Princess_ [it read]

I don't know how I never noticed before how lovely your hair is. It's long, thick and a beautiful, vibrant, glossy red. When it's out it hangs down your back like a river of rubies. I long to run my fingers through it and feel the strands of your hair slip through them.

_         From your devoted Prince_

Ginny blushed furiously and looked furtively around the class, wondering if any of them could be her mystery prince, and she admitted, huge crush. There was Colin Creevey; he was nice, Ginny supposed, even though he still fervently admired Harry Potter and she had long since gotten over her own infatuation. But Colin, thought Ginny, was no romantic. 

Roderick Stanton was a possibility, he had been quite attentive to her the past few weeks, but he was a Ravenclaw with no possible way of getting notes to her. Casting her mind further, Ginny doubted it was Harry Potter. He had never shown any interest in her before and had no reason to begin now.

Her mind whirling, Ginny focussed again on the class and noticed everyone backing away. Ginny swore. She hadn't copied the notes yet. Sighing, she resolved to get them from her roommate Claire later on. 

 Stuffing the rest of her things in to her bag, Ginny carefully placed the blue note in the pocket of her robes and ran to catch up with Claire. 

*       *       *

"Finally, it's Friday," Claire looked relieved as she collapsed onto her bed. Kicking her shoes off, Ginny's friend's eye caught something. "Oooh, Ginny! Ginny, look!"

Ginny looked at the usually much quieter girl and then at what she was pointing at. She hastily rushed over to the small package on her bed. Carefully, she held it in her hands. It was quite light. 

"Well! Open it, Gin!" Claire urged gleefully, "You've got a secret admirer!" 

Ginny deftly undid the white ribbon before transferring her attention to the green present on her bed. "Maybe it's just a package from Fred and George," she said rather doubtfully. She hoped not, though. It had been two weeks since she had last heard from her mysterious prince and she was getting slightly worried. 

The last of the paper slid off to reveal a stone about half the size of her fist. It was glowing a brilliant purple. 

"Oh, wow," Claire bent forward to take a closer look.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, mystified. 

"It's a _sentire lapis_. It's really cool. Just hold it tightly and you'll be able to find out what somebody's feeling for you, usually people who love you. I think they're quite expensive actually."

Ginny turned the stone over in her hands, thinking. 

"Was there a note?" Claire ruffled through the paper. "Nope, nothing," she answered her own question before looking at Ginny. "Are you going to try it out?"

"Maybe later," Ginny said, and dropped the stone back onto the bed. By giving her this, her prince must mean that he felt quite a lot for her. But she had no idea who the hell he was. He had placed notes in her bag, on her pillow, on her desk…she had never before given too much thought to this, but now she began to wonder. Her prince was stalking her. 

*       *       *

Ginny pulled the quilt further up her knees as she basked in the warm glow of the fire. 

"Hello Ginny," a voice said near her ear, and Ginny gave a jump before looking into the sparkling eyes of her other friend, Riva. Riva perched precariously on the edge of her armchair, "Claire told me about your secret admirer," the girl said, smiling at Ginny. "Any idea who it could be?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not a bloody clue."

Riva shrugged good-naturedly, "I'm sure you'll find out eventually." 

"Have you or Claire ever noticed anyone, you know, enter my rooms or put something in my bag?" 

Riva said thoughtfully, "I haven't, but that doesn't mean anything. There are spells you can do to so that sort of thing. Your secret admirer probably charmed your present onto your bed." 

Claire turned around from another armchair, "You know, Ginny, if you really want to find out who he is, just do a spell." She rolled her eyes, "Obviously."

*       *       *

Riva slammed another pile of huge books onto a table as Madam Pince watched reproachfully. 

"Couldn't this wait until tomorrow, Gin?" Claire asked as she slipped into a seat opposite Ginny, who shook her head. There was silence as all three sixth years scanned the books.

"What exactly are we looking for, Gin?" Claire asked after a while.

 "Anything that will show me who he is," Ginny replied.

"Here's one," Riva said suddenly, "It's a spell that analyses handwriting. You say the spell and then get little snippets of information appear, like clues. You're meant to figure it out from there."

Ginny grabbed the book from Riva and scanned the small paragraph before whipping out her wand and a bundle of notes.

"You keep his notes with you?" Riva started to giggle uncontrollably. 

"Wait," Claire grabbed Ginny's wand and held it. "What happens if the spell goes wrong? You need to practice." 

"Claire, I'll be fine," Ginny pleaded with her.

Claire gave a little sigh and reluctantly let go of Ginny's wand.

"_Reperire Annotare_!" Ginny spoke the spell as she pressed the tip to the writing on one of the notes.

Nothing happened.

"Bugger," Ginny swore. 

"Miss Weasley!" Madam Pince's ear-splitting voice rang out across the library as the eagle-eyed woman marched across to Ginny and poked her in the chest with a bony finger. "Magic in the library! Really, that was most irresponsible and dangerous. 20 points from Gryffindor! Out! Get out of my library right this minute!"

*       *       *

Claire was asleep. Ginny took the sentir lapis off her bedside table and rolled it around in her hands. She held it tightly. In her mind's eye she pictured Molly Weasley. Warm, kind loving, angry, annoyed Molly Weasley; Molly cooking lunch; Molly waving goodbye on the train. Without warning, Ginny's heart suddenly began to beat faster, her blood become warmer, and her mind was assaulted with millions of split-second images of her mother. Then, the sensations stopped and all Ginny could feel was a sense of peacefulness, calm, and, most predominantly, love. It seeped out her pores; it invaded her brain and swept the rest of her body, spreading down to the tips of her fingers and toes. Ginny let of the stone, and immediately everything stopped, leaving Ginny gasping for breath. "Wow," was all she managed to say.

Hopping into bed, Ginny immediately fell into a deep sleep.

_Don't do that boy…you're better than them/a little puppy/green shoes/ kill them…/Crucio/ twinkling little stars/my Lord/ I don't like strawberries…/No! he's my friend/ I can't have them anymore/ A lollipop!/ make it go faster, Nanny/ offering you a choice/ I want that/ where's mummy gone?/ Boo!/ Daddy, stop him being mean/ no choice/ I'm scary/ it's all glittery like Mummy's jewellery/ I think he's real ugly/ Cleansweep 5 /I'm going to kill the prince and keep the princess/ Father doesn't like dolls/I can offer you a choice too/it's a huge owl/ Stop, you're hurting me/ mudblood/ Christmas is soon/said the rabbit/ a tea party she said/ he doesn't want to be my friend/ I'm sorry/ Its still moving/ why don't you just be quiet/ ferret/ dragons and dungeons/put him in the dungeon/I want Dobby back/ It buzzes like a bee/ he's gone…/keep it quiet/ I want steak tonight/ what's that red stuff?/ Mummy/ taking them to the manor/ brilliant/_

Ginny sat up, eyes wide. "What the _hell_?" She raised a hand to head and wiped the sweat off. That would have to rate as the weirdest dream ever…

Suddenly Ginny remembered the spell. "Of course! The clues…they came in a dream…" 

Then everything began to make sense. Ginny's eyes widened and her mouth opened, though no sound came out. After a few seconds she pulled herself together. "Malfoy's my Prince?!?"

*       *       *

"Hey, Ginny, what's the matter-"

"Ginn-"

"Get out of my way," Ginny snapped as she swept past her brother towards the Slytherin table. She stopped in front of a smirking blonde. "Malfoy, a word please." She asked as politely as she could. 

"Of course." Carefully Draco Malfoy stood up and placed his serviette on the table before striding towards the doors of the Great Hall. Ginny scowled and gave a little jog to catch up with the seventh year. Draco walked into an empty classroom and whirled around to face Ginny.

"Why have you been sending me letters?" Ginny asked outright.

Draco looked a little surprised, and for a moment he lost his self-assurance.  "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I mean. All year you've been sending me letters, gifts and things like that. What are you trying to do here, Malfoy?"

He was silent.

Ginny started gain more confidence. "This is just a huge joke for you isn't it? All year you've been sending things to the littlest Weasley and getting your kicks from me wondering who it was. You just delight in messing about with people's feelings."

"Listen, Ginny, that's not what-"

"Don't call me Ginny!" She snapped at him. She was gasping indignantly, her face flushed angrily. 

"Stop jumping to conclusions," Draco retorted back at her, surprising her. "This isn't a joke, everything I said in those letters I thought was true. How else was I supposed to tell you what I felt for you except in secret letters? You'd really believe it if I'd have told you in person. IN fact, you'd probably hex me and then get your brother or Potter to do some as well!" 

"Okay then," Ginny said, recovering. "Say it is true, you do like me. What then?" On the outside, Ginny looked reasonably calm, but on the inside she was a mess. She was still trying to cope from the news that Malfoy was her secret admirer, and now she was here, in some classroom, yelling at him and he was yelling at her back. 

Draco stepped forward. "What do you want me to do?" 

"Er-"

"I'm no gentleman, Ginny Weasley. Just because you don't accept my advances, doesn't mean that I'll stop them. I'll keep trying to woo you till I die. I really, truly, feel something for you." The Slytherin looked at her desperately, "It's like an electric current fills my body when I see you. I'm all tingly and jittery but I can't seem to move or speak, I can just watch you. Ginny, please, you've got to believe me. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Ginny didn't say anything. Draco took another step forward. "Ginny?" Slowly, he lifted a hand up to rest on her cheek. Ginny noted to her amusement that his hand was shaking slightly. They were roughly the same height so she could see right into his unsure silver eyes. Her heart was beating so loudly she was sure Draco could hear it. And then, he touched his lips to hers and Ginny only thought one thing. _My prince._


End file.
